Vale continued reading for quite some time.
At the edge of his desk, Ember and the small ravens were fully absorbed in their own chaos, darting back and forth, hopping over scattered papers, and occasionally tumbling into one another. Their movements were clumsy but energetic, full of curiosity and life.
Vale caught the motion in the corner of his eye and let out a faint chuckle before returning his focus to the page.
After a while, he glanced at the clock displayed in the corner of his computer screen.
10:00 in the evening.
His brow furrowed slightly. A quiet sigh escaped him as he leaned back just enough to stretch his shoulders.
"I'll study for about one more hour," he murmured to himself, "then I'll head to bed."
His gaze drifted briefly to Chrome, who was perched nearby, several of his legs interfaced with the computer as streams of data scrolled past the screen. Satisfied, Vale turned back to his book.
The volume he was reading focused on spawn, their origins, classifications, and the mechanisms by which they entered the world. It detailed rifts, fractures, and gates, outlining the conditions required for each and the dangers they posed.
But as Vale read on, something began to bother him.
There were no images.
No sketches. No diagrams. No illustrations of any kind.
He flipped forward a few pages. Still nothing.
Strange, he thought. 'I'm not even halfway through yet. Maybe they're included later.'
He continued reading.
An hour passed.
When Vale finally closed the book, he stared at the cover in mild disbelief.
There were no images at all.
Not a single depiction of a spawn in the entire text.
He sat there for a moment, pondering the omission. Then his eyes shifted slowly toward Chrome.
With a curious expression, Vale spoke. "Hey, Chrome."
Chrome paused his activity and turned his lens toward him. "Yes, Vale?"
Vale hesitated briefly before continuing. "Are there any images of spawn available online? There weren't any in the book I just finished."
Chrome tilted his frame slightly, considering the question. "Yes, there are. However, the absence of images in educational material is intentional."
Vale raised a brow.
Chrome continued, "No two spawn are ever truly identical. Displaying specific images often creates false expectations in students. To avoid that misconception, most foundational texts exclude visuals altogether."
Vale nodded slowly. That explanation made sense.
Without another word, Chrome extended one of his legs into the computer interface. The screen flickered, then rapidly filled with search results.
Vale's eyes widened.
There were hundreds, no, thousands of images.
Chrome withdrew his leg after a moment and turned back to him. "Before you begin reviewing them, may I ask you a question?"
Vale blinked, surprised by the shift. "Uh… sure. Go ahead."
Chrome paused briefly, as if organizing his thoughts.
"How many categories of spawn exist?"
Vale leaned back in his chair, recalling the information from the book. After a moment, he answered confidently. "There are three primary categories. Each one contains seven ranked classifications."
Chrome nodded. "Correct. That will suffice for now. You should examine the images before I continue."
Vale allowed himself a small, satisfied smile before turning fully toward the screen.
The smile didn't last long.
Most of the images depicted devastation, cities reduced to rubble, entire districts torn apart. In many of them, spawn were locked in battle with Visorians.
Others were worse.
Vale felt a knot form in his stomach as he scrolled. Some images showed fallen Visorians, bodies broken, lifeless, scattered across ruined streets. They had died fighting the very creatures displayed beside them.
A quiet sorrow crept into Vale's expression.
He scrolled further.
Now he understood.
The spawn didn't resemble monsters in the way stories often described them. They weren't uniform, or even coherent. They were abominations, twisted, malformed conglomerations of flesh and power.
Humanoid spawn with limbs that shouldn't exist, tentacles of rotting tissue writhing from their torsos.
Flying spawn that vaguely resembled dragons, but with human hands growing from their wings, their bodies stitched together from incompatible forms.
Nothing looked natural. Nothing looked right.
And yet, when spawn emerged together, there were similarities, shared traits, mirrored distortions. Still, no two were ever the same.
Vale scrolled for nearly thirty minutes.
When he finally shut down the computer, the screen faded to black, reflecting his own troubled expression. A bitter aftertaste lingered, heavy and unpleasant.
He stared at the dark screen in silence.
After a long moment, he sighed.
Vale stood and moved toward his bed, gently lifting the small ravens from the desk and placing them on the floor so they wouldn't accidentally tumble off in the night. The floor felt cold, so he retrieved one of his shirts and laid it out carefully for them to sleep on.
Satisfied, he nodded to himself.
Ember climbed onto him as he lay down, curling neatly against his body. The small wyvern settled almost instantly, breathing slow and steady.
Vale closed his eyes.
The images lingered behind his eyelids, but exhaustion eventually claimed him, and he drifted into sleep, the quiet weight of knowledge settling deeper within him.
When Vale woke the next morning, the first thing he noticed was the weight on his chest.
It wasn't heavy, if anything, it was warm.
He stirred slightly and opened his eyes, blinking as his vision adjusted. Lying there, perched comfortably atop him, were the small ravens. All three were nestled against his chest, feathers ruffled, bodies rising and falling with slow, steady breaths.
Vale blinked again, just to be sure.
"…Did you fly up here?" he asked quietly.
The sound of his voice immediately caught their attention.
The ravens lifted their heads in unison, dark eyes locking onto his. In the next instant, they began chirping wildly, sharp, excited sounds that echoed through the room. It was as if his awakening had flipped some unseen switch within them.
One raven hopped closer, nearly pressing its beak to Vale's face. It let out a loud, piercing chirp.
and with it came a sudden gust of wind.
The force was strong enough to lift Vale's blanket, sending the fabric rippling upward. His eyes widened in shock.
Before he could react, the other two ravens joined in.
Except… there were no longer two.
The space above his chest distorted, and in the blink of an eye, the pair split—becoming four. Two of the new forms radiated intense heat, their bodies glowing from within like living furnaces. A vivid orange light pulsed beneath their feathers, casting flickering reflections across the room.
Vale stared, utterly stunned.
"…You're kidding," he muttered, awe bleeding into his voice. "Have you already figured out how to use your abilities?"
The ravens glanced at one another, then chirped together in unison, clearly trying, and failing, to communicate something far more complex than sound alone.
Vale let out a low, incredulous chuckle. Pushing the blanket aside, he sat upright.
The moment he did, the glow faded. The extra forms dissolved like mist, leaving only three ravens once more. With a few quick beats of their wings, they took off, landing neatly atop his desk.
"And you can already fly," Vale murmured, shaking his head in disbelief.
A soft smile formed on his face as he stood.
Beside his pillow, Ember stirred.
The small wyvern stretched, letting out a quiet yawn, eyes half-lidded and unfocused. Ember blinked at Vale sleepily as Vale crossed the room and opened his closet.
He retrieved his armor piece by piece, fastening it with practiced care. The process took a few minutes, but when he was finished, the result was immaculate.
The leather was clean and unscarred, tough, dark, and unyielding. Polished metal plates covered his vital areas with precision, catching the light as he moved. The only notable gaps were the absence of a helmet and the exposure of his right arm.
Vale glanced at it briefly.
The prosthetic didn't concern him. The strange metal it was forged from was more resilient than most armor anyway.
Satisfied, he nodded to himself.
At his desk, his phone lit up with several missed notifications. Vale's expression darkened slightly as he skimmed them.
'I should probably answer these,' he thought.
Then he noticed the time.
11:30 in the morning.
His eyes widened.
"Shit."
Vale grabbed his phone and let out a sharp whistle.
Instantly, Ember took flight, and the three ravens followed. They landed smoothly, Ember settling on one shoulder, two ravens claiming the other, while the third perched confidently atop Vale's head.
Vale paused, surprised.
'That was… fast,' he thought, amused. 'Didn't expect them to listen this well already.'
With no time to dwell on it, Vale rushed out of his room and into the halls, moving at a near run toward the eastern cafeteria.
The distance was considerable. By the time he reached it, nearly thirty minutes later, his breathing was heavier, but his pace hadn't slowed.
Vale stopped in front of the entrance and pulled out his phone.
12:00 in the afternoon.
Right on time.
He slid the phone back into his pocket and scanned the area. Ember and the ravens remained perched comfortably on him, shifting only slightly as he moved.
Then he saw him.
A tall man stood nearby, clad in pristine white armor accented with gold. The design was elegant yet imposing, radiating authority without excess. Brilliant blue eyes reflected the light as the man turned slightly.
Vale smiled.
"Callum."
He stepped forward, ready to hear whatever the Shining Knight had planned for him next.